PBC on Fox: The curse of the Red Corner

Dominic Breazeale (right) was knocked down but not out, and survived to win a TKO victory when Amir Monsour retired in the corner due to injury. Photo: Suzanne Teresa, Premier Boxing Champions

SAN DIEGO, January 23, 2016 – The heavyweights put on the crowd pleasing contest of the night in Los Angeles for Premier Boxing Champions on Fox.

American Dominic Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs) survived an early assault and third round knockdown by Amir Mansour (21-2-1 16 KOs) to win a fifth round TKO victory when Mansour could not come out of his corner for the sixth round.

Mansour won the early rounds with ease, scoring with left hooks and hard right hands. It was a snapping right that put Breazeale down on the canvas one minute into the third, the first knockdown in his professional career.

Breazeale managed to survive on unsteady legs and get through the round.

It may have been all the 43-year-old Mansour had to offer, and both fighters took a breather in the fourth round. It gave Breazeale a chance, and he came on strong in Round 5. Mansour responded and it was bombs away to the delight of the crowd. Breazeale scored with hooks and a trio of upper cuts.

The upper cuts appeared to damage, perhaps break Mansour’s jaw, and prevented him from coming out for Round 6. Several hours later, Mansour posted the following explanation to his Facebook page. “THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT AND PRAYERS!!! I know that many of u are wondering what exactly happened, so ill tell you. Around the 2nd round, i got hit with my tongue positioned in between my teeth. My mouth piece is fitted for my upper teeth only. Anyway, I bit my damn tongue almost completely in half. (Yes it was painful) so then my damn tongue swelled up so bad, that i literally could not breath, not to mention swallowing so much blood . Been battling a little cold so breathing thru my nose wasnt working. I was suffocating…literally. Got a pretty decent injury to my jaw as well, getting that checked out. ‪#‎hurtbusiness‬”

After the fight ended, Breazeale said he didn’t know what was happening when the fight ended. “Usually when they wave off a fight, it’s over. Shows I have punching power after all.”

Breazeale said about the third round knockdown, “I’ve been on the canvas before. I just had my hand in the wrong place. I knew I could get back up. I’m in great shape. It happens to the best of us.

“I’m a fighter at heart and I wanted to just get in there and brawl, but I knew I had to stick to the game plan and box him.”

At the time of the stoppage, judges Jerry Cantu and Thomas Taylor had the fight scored 48-46 for Mansour; judge David Mendoza had it 49-45 for Mansour.

At the time of the stoppage, Amir Mansour was ahead on all scorecards. Photo: Courtesy Premier Boxing Champions

Breazeale said before the bout he needed a statement victory that included a knockout to put himself into the hunt within the heavyweight division. It wasn’t quite what he hoped for, but Breazeale got away with his record intact and the bout entertained the Staples Center audience. Breazeale is still learning and he will need to reflect on the shortcomings that allowed Mansour to do damage before getting in the ring with a younger opponent with more endurance.

Call it the curse of the red corner. In a surprisingly lackluster bout, “Sergeant” Sammy Vasquez (21-0, 15 KOs) won a TKO victory after the sixth round when the ringside physician determined opponent Aron Martinez (19-4-1, 4 KOs) could not continue. As with Mansour, Martinez was in the red corner.

Vasquez fought with solid skills, cautious and tactical. He appeared far bigger than his welterweight opponent Martinez. The crowd was solidly behind Los Angeles based Martinez, but the lack of engagement which looked worse compared to the prior heavyweight bout turned the cheers to catcalls.

After the fight, Martinez said he hurt his elbow and started feeling it in the third round.

“I couldn’t throw my jab. I started to feel it in the third round. The doctor stopped it. I was doing okay. Not my best. I tried, but once I hurt my elbow, I knew it was going to be tough to continue,” said Martinez.

Vasquez will take the win, but it wasn’t the impressive California debut on prime time TV he or his fans hoped for. “Of course I won the fight, but Martinez is a tough competitor, a tough Mexican fighter. I tried to mix it up with him a little bit, but there was no sense in me trying to do that. I could have easily outboxed him, which I started to do, but I wanted more. I was just starting to warm up.

“A victory feels good of course, but I wanted more,” said Vasquez. “I wanted to go 12 rounds, if it would have lasted that long. I wanted a very decisive win. Unfortunately, he got hurt, but every fight is a learning experience for me. It’s on to the next page and I’m ready for all of the guys at the top. Eventually, I’m going to get them,” added Vasquez.

In the swing bout, hometown boxer Alejandro Luna (20-0, 15 KOs) of Bellflower, California and Alan Herrera of Mexico (34-8, 22 KOs) fought a spirited lightweight bout with plenty of effort on both sides, but Luna proved his undefeated record is no fluke with an eighth round TKO win when Luna could not continue. Herrera’s left eye was cut from a punch in Round 6 and was impeding him a great deal. As he was behind on all the cards, there was no real reason for him to keep going. Luna should now get the chance to step up in the competitive lightweight division.

Getting a solid win with a fifth round knockout in his U.S. debut was junior welterweight Min Wook “Sniper” Kim of Korea (13-1, 11 KOs) over Erick Martinez (11-4-1, 5 KOs) of Mexico. Kim, working with trainer Jose Santa Cruz, father of boxer Leo Santa Cruz, shows power and aggression, a crowd pleasing fighter.

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, APR, is President/Owner of the Falcon Valley Group in San Diego, California. She is also a serious boxing fan covering the Sweet Science for Communities. Read more Ringside Seat in Communities Digital News. Follow Gayle on Facebook and on Twitter @PRProSanDiego. Gayle can be reached via Google +

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Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, MS, APR, is President of the Falcon Valley Group, a San Diego based communications consulting firm. Falkenthal is a veteran award winning broadcast and print journalist, editor, producer, talk host and commentator. She is an instructor at National University in San Diego, and previously taught in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University.